Despite the current ongoing market slump that has seen Bitcoin break below $5,000, Crypto bull Thomas Lee still believes BTC will achieve $15,000 by the end of the year. Yesterday saw BTC break below $5,000 for the first time since October 2017. The ongoing market correction follows rumors that increased regulatory scrutiny will prompt issuers of ICOs to liquidate holdings.
The crypto market has lost over $660 billion in market cap
Yesterday BTC fell for an eighth consecutive day to mark the longest string of losses on record since its inception. It lost 9.1 percent to trade at $4,958 for the first time in over a year. The altcoins fared even worse with Ether losing as much as 13 percent and Litecoin losing 14 percent. XRP was the only gainer among the top ten cryptocurrencies.
On Nov. 16, the SEC fined two crypto companies that had failed to register their ICOs as securities. Now Airfox and Paragon Coin Inc. both will have to pay $250,000 in penalties to compensate investors. They also have to register the virtual tokens as securities.
Justin Litchfield, the chief technology officer at ProChain Capital, believes “the selloff is related to enforcement, which is almost certainly underway. Projects are being made to return investor money, which, after having spent a ton of money marketing their $100 million ICO on a lavish party-filled road-show that was the norm for this vintage of ICOs, will be tough.”
However, suggesting the SEC ruling triggered the current sell-off is somewhat overblown. According to a researcher by the name Elementus, many ICOs that have been held have already drained their wallets, and it’s highly likely they have converted their crypto coins to fiat.
Astonishingly, the crypto market has now lost $660 billion in value from the January peak. Bitcoin alone has dropped 70 percent since its December peak.
Crypto bull believes $15,000 is still a possibility
The selloff has forced Thomas Lee to slash his end of year price target for BTC to $15,000 from $25,000. The target is based on a fair value of 2.2 times the break-even cost of BTC mining, which Fundstrat pegs at $7,000 according to a report released last week.
Do you agree with the Crypto bull that BTC can reach $15,000 by the end of the year? Share your thoughts in the comment section below
